I have been working on spiritual priorities lately. How are your spiritual priorities? Of course I am talking about the usual list that should include the Holy Trinity, spouse, family and friends. But what I am talking about here is the next level of spiritual priorities. How are you bringing the word of God to co-workers, acquaintances, and even random strangers? Have you ever has a conversation about God with a person that happens to sit next to you on an airplane? How would you even go about doing this, I wondered and prayed? Then it hit me. I start with a book. It can be the Bible but it might be something else like The Shack, Heaven Is For Real or Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way. It creates a nice jumping off point to begin a conversation especially if they ask about you the book. I was recently in an airport waiting for my flight that had been delayed. I noticed a lady was reading The Shack and so I approached her and asked if she was enjoying it. I told her that I had read it several times and still find myself turning to it on my Nook when I am looking for something to read. It gives me a sense of peace and hope. She told me that she was struggling with some of the imagery and so we talked about that a while. In the end, we exchanged contact information and I told her to let me know what she thought once she had completed her reading. Then something interesting happen. Another person sitting nearby began to talk with us about God. When I returned to my original place with the rest of my traveling party of co-workers, they asked me about the conversations that had just taken place. All of a sudden, I was bold with the power of the Holy Spirit and I began to tell them about my spiritual journey. I planted the seeds for the future. It is now up to God to grow them but I am sure He can handle it. I had prayed for wisdom about this task and out of nowhere came the answer. It is truly amazing how God can and will work in your life if you only let Him.
The spiritual climax of the Gospel of John, as Father John Waiss points out, occurs at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus utters his parting words: “Woman, behold, your son!” and “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). While these words were addressed to the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Church has long understood this moment as a universal adoption. To truly image Christ, we must share in His parentage; if we embrace God as our spiritual Father but reject Mary as our mother, we treat Christ as a half-brother rather than our "firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). As Origen noted as early as the third century, the profound depths of the Gospel are only accessible to those who, like John, rest their heads on Jesus’ breast and receive Mary into their own homes. This maternal role is deeply rooted in biblical typology, positioning Mary as the fulfillment of the great mothers of the Old Covenant. She is the New Eve , the mother of all the living according ...
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